Design and uses of robots: few ethical questions

The association of the terms "ethics" and "robot" covers several distinct aspects. It may involve ethical reflection on robotics research, or on the design of robots with a particular characteristic, for example, robots with decision-making autonomy enabling them to substitute for certain human decisions, robots imitating human or animal appearance or behavior, or robots modifying human physical capabilities. Ethical reflection may also concern the uses of robots and their impact on society, in particular the use of robots in defense and security, autonomous cars, companion and personal assistance robots, and robots for repairing and augmenting humans. Last but not least, ethics can be addressed as a modeling issue, with a view to conferring on a robot a behavior that would be considered ethical (for example, in a utilitarian framework, the robot would maximize the positive consequences of its actions on its environment).

Since the ethical approach is essentially one of questioning, the following is a non-exhaustive list of avenues for reflection on these various aspects, as well as a number of specific questions illustrated by examples. The aim is to enlighten the reader on the specific features of robots and the new problems they pose in relation to other technological objects, rather than to provide ready-made answers as to what a robot should or should not be, what it should or should not be able to do, or what its "good" and "bad" uses might be. To this end, the article draws heavily on the work carried out by CERNA (Allistene's Commission de réflexion sur l'éthique de la recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique).